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Sugarcane

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02:13

Sugarcane

Name: Sugarcane
Director: Julian Brave NoiseCat
Genre: Documentary
Released: 2024
Duration: 1 h 47 min
Cast: Charlene Belleau, Rick Gilbert, Willie Sellars, Ed Archie NoiseCat

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Documentary

2024
Julian Brave NoiseCat
107 mins
15

Summary

Documentary. The citizens of the Williams Lake First Nation are among the thousands of indigenous Canadians who continue to reckon with the effects of the now defunct "residential school" system - a policy designed to separate native children from their culture. Film-maker Julian Brave NoiseCat joins his community in investigating and uncovering the abuses and murders that were committed within their local Catholic mission.

IMDB

Review

A star rating of 4 out of 5.

Calum Baker

The "residential school" system in Canada was developed in the 19th century with the aim of separating indigenous youths from their heritage and assimilating them into the culture of the country's white, European colonisers. Reports of abuse within these institutions - most of which were run by the Catholic Church - were hushed up for decades. This excellent documentary follows various interrelated efforts within one community, the Williams Lake First Nation in British Columbia, to uncover the extent of the atrocities committed, and find a way to move forward. Historian Charlene Belleau and chief Willie Sellars do heroic work in collecting the testimonies of survivors and digging into the archives to reveal evidence of almost unimaginable horrors. This grim material is presented with restraint by film-makers Emily Kassie and Julian Brave NoiseCat, a local who also appears on screen for more intimate scenes, talking with his father, Ed, about the latter's lingering trauma from his rez-school days. The accounts are as upsetting as you'd expect, but the film takes a calm, immersive and non-exploitative approach that emphasises the experiences of the participants rather than the shock of the events described. With its blend of documentary styles and its skilful journalistic structure, this is a difficult but remarkably clear-eyed film.

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7.0/10